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Mahatma Gandhi/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby Tim, a young man, walks into a backyard covered with autumn leaves. Moby, a robot, is sitting cross-legged in a huge leaf pile, eyes closed, a rake lying across his lap. TIM: Moby! This yard was supposed to be raked two hours ago! MOBY: Beep! TIM: A peaceful protest? Uh, what exactly are you protesting? MOBY: Beep! TIM: I am not oppressing you. Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, who was Mahatma Gandhi, and why was he important? Thanks, D. Donohue. TIM: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, better known as Mahatma Gandhi, was the political and spiritual leader of India during the first half of the 20th century. Moby's little act of defiance here is a tribute to one of Gandhi's most famous teachings: satyagraha, the use of non-violent protest to fight oppression. MOBY: Beep? TIM: No, he didn't protest yardwork. He was more concerned with things like racial discrimination, unfair taxation, and colonial rule. A map of India is shown. A dot on the west coast of India is labeled "Porbandar." TIM: Gandhi was born in the city of Porbandar in 1869. His parents were devoted followers of Hinduism who taught their son many of the Hindu values that later became his trademarks. These included vegetarianism, non-violence toward other living beings, fasting for spiritual purification, and tolerance for people with different backgrounds and beliefs. Images show young Gandhi eating vegetables, letting a bug fly in front of his face, fasting, and shaking hands with a white girl. TIM: At age 18, Gandhi went to school in London to become a barrister. That's sort of like a lawyer. An image shows Gandhi in front of London's Big Ben clock tower. TIM: But he had trouble finding work when he went back to India, so in 1893 he accepted a job in Natal, South Africa. A map shows Natal, South Africa, and Bombay, India. A dotted line begins at Bombay and crosses the ocean to Natal. TIM: This is where Gandhi got his first real taste of racism. South Africa had a huge Indian population that was treated poorly by the white ruling class. An image shows a white police officer with a gun stopping a dark-skinned young man. TIM: Gandhi spent the next 21 years leading the Indian community in peaceful protests against the government's attacks on their civil rights. An image shows several Indian people protesting, some with arms in the air and others holding signs. TIM: These tactics landed thousands of Indians, including Gandhi himself, in jail. An image shows a sad Gandhi is sitting behind bars in a jail cell. TIM: But they also won widespread support, and they eventually led to limited rights for Indians in South Africa. Several Indian and African men are shaking hands. TIM: When Gandhi returned to India in 1915, he quickly became the face of the Indian independence movement, a prolonged struggle for freedom from the British Empire. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Yeah, back then, India was still a British colony. Under the British, most Indians were landless farmers or laborers living in poverty under the harsh reality of class discrimination. Gandhi went to work organizing strikes against British landowners, drawing up petitions, and directing efforts to clean up India's villages. An image shows a British officer on horseback watches Indian laborers work in a field. TIM: When the police threw Gandhi in jail, thousands of his supporters rallied outside the prison and demanded his freedom. An image shows people protesting outside of a jail, their fists in the air. Gandhi looks out of a barred window of the jail. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Yeah, it worked! Gandhi was released, and the British signed an agreement to repeal some taxes they'd imposed in the middle of a food shortage. The British also promised more rights and wages for Indian workers. This victory made Gandhi even more popular; people started calling him Bapu, which means "father," and Mahatma, which means "great soul." But India remained under British control, and the oppression continued. Gandhi eventually decided that India's complete independence from foreign rule was the only solution. An animation shows a British flag waving in front of the Taj Mahal. Gandhi's picture appears, and a flag with horizontal orange, white, and green stripes covers the previous scene. TIM: Rejecting western clothing, he began dressing in dhoti, simple cloth wraps worn by the poorest Indians. In 1921, he was given leadership of the Indian National Congress, and over the next 27 years he led various campaigns against British rule. Gandhi is wearing only a white cloth wrap that covers his waist to his knees. TIM: One of these was the policy of boycotting foreign-made goods. A large ship with a British flag is shown. A large red X crosses out the ship. TIM: Another was the famous Salt March of 1930 to protest a British tax on salt. Gandhi led thousands of Indians on a 23-day, 400-kilometer walk to the coast, where they made their own salt from seawater! Images show people marching and Gandhi bending over to collect salt water from the sea. TIM: Then there was his 21-day fast in 1933, to protest the unfair treatment of untouchables, a class of Indians segregated from the rest of society because they were considered spiritually impure. MOBY: Beep? TIM: That's right. No food for three weeks, at the age of 63! Finally, in 1942, Gandhi launched the Quit India movement, in which Indians refused to support the British effort in World War II. An animation shows rows of soldiers holding rifles across their chests. A red, white, and green horizontally striped flag flies above them. Then, they drop their weapons. TIM: This was the biggest act of defiance so far, and the British responded with mass arrests. Gandhi himself was locked up for two years. Gandhi is shown in a jail cell. TIM: But they gave in toward the end of the war, and on August 15, 1947, India finally became an independent nation! A map of India is shown, the country covered in the British flag. The British flag is replaced by the orange, white, and green horizontal stripes of India's flag. TIM: Despite Gandhi's efforts, though, that independence came at a great cost. To calm tensions between two religious groups, the Muslims and Hindus, the Indian National Congress divided the country. A large section broke off to become the Islamic state of Pakistan. A map of India is shown. A portion of the northwest corner is labeled "West Pakistan." A smaller portion on the northeastern part of India is labeled "East Pakistan." TIM: Less than six months later, Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu extremist who was unhappy with the settlement terms India had negotiated with Pakistan. An image shows an injured Gandhi with blood on his clothes. A sad man and woman on either side of him assist him. TIM: But Gandhi's legacy lives on, and not just in India, where he's officially remembered as the "Father of the Nation." An image shows India's flag, with Gandhi's image at its center. TIM: His principles of non-violence went on to inspire other civil rights leaders. Like Martin Luther King, Jr., who fought for equality for African-Americans in the 1950s and 60s. An image shows Martin Luther King, Jr. leasing a protest in front of the Lincoln Memorial. TIM: And Nelson Mandela, who successfully led a similar struggle in South Africa. An image of Nelson Mandela appears in front of South Afircans holding protest signs. TIM: You know, if you're trying to be like Gandhi, you should probably fast, too. MOBY: Beep! Moby frowns, then reluctantly picks up the rake and gets to work. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP Social Studies Transcripts